As a lifelong sci-fi geek, I thought I’d seen every variant of alien contact narrative the genre had to offer, from the invasion epics to the misadventures of benign visitors to thinly veiled social allegories. Even the enjoyable ones often rely on predictable tropes. But Dawn, the first installment in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy, captivated … More Review: “Dawn” by Octavia Butler
If you’re interested in literature, STEM education, environmentalism, or just want to look at a picture of Jon Snow from “Game of Thrones” (yes, some culture critics argue the presence of cli-fi themes in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series) check out the article I just wrote for The Atlantic about the growing popularity of cli-fi and its … More “Can books save the planet?”: my article for The Atlantic
1984 is often regarded as the original dystopia, but Orwell himself acknowledged that the novel was somewhat derivative. His inspiration? Yevgeny Zamyatin’s 1921 novel We, evolutionary ancestor of the totalitarian sci-fi stories so popular today. It’s easy to dismiss the book as cliched until one places it on the continuum of speculative fiction and remembers that … More Review: “We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin
NASA’s New Horizons mission completed its historic flyby of Pluto yesterday, giving us our first close-up look at the dwarf planet that marks the exit ramp from our solar system into the galaxy beyond. Earth began receiving images today (yes, a day later; it’s a very long-distance call). The pictures will give us our closet … More Pluto: Planet of the Nerds?
Reading Hyperion recalled my years in an undergraduate English department: the words mesmerized me, some of the ideas enthralled me…and the suffocating pretension tempted me to switch majors (or novels, in this case). I could tell the author was an English major even before confirming my suspicions on Wikipedia. We can always sense one another’s presence! I … More Review: Hyperion
I’d been meaning to post a review of The Martian by Andy Weir for the last few months, but hadn’t gotten around to it. Now I get to write something even more fun: the upcoming movie adaptation! Weir’s novel hits the big screen in October, and the trailer looks fantastic. The book’s simple premise belies its sophistication and … More “The Martian” becomes a movie!
Wild Type 